Estimating Scale and Scope Economies with Fourier Flexible Functional Form – Evidence from Taiwan's Banking Industry

In this study the scale and scope economies for Taiwan's banking sector using panel data from 22 domestic banks for the period 1981–1997 is investigated quantitatively using both a Fourier flexible functional form, first proposed by Gallant (1981, 1982), and a translog function. This study's results favour the use of the former, based on tests of regression coefficients and on estimates of various economy measures. The Fourier evidence shows that only smaller banks exhibit increasing returns to scale, while larger banks exhibit decreasing returns to scale. Conversely, the translog indicates that all the sample groups continue to enjoy economies of scale. Banks in Taiwan exhibit scope diseconomies, which suggest that sample banks should continue efforts to diversify their financial products, which in turn could substantially reduce their average costs.     

Performance of Thailand banks after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis

The performance of commercial banks and government-owned specialized banks in Thailand is estimated after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis. Commercial banks exhibit increasing returns to scale, whereas government-owned specialized banks exhibit decreasing returns to scale, implying further increases in bank size and market concentration in the commercial bank sector but not for government specialized banks. Cost inefficiency varies by bank and is a function of the ratio of nonperforming loans (NPLs) to total loans, equity to total assets and liquid assets to total assets, as well as the number of branches. On average, banks with fewer NPLs, that are well capitalized and with adequate liquidity are efficient. Thus, stricter rules to regulate credit risk management and ensure capital and liquidity adequacy would enhance efficiency in the banking sector. Although estimated input substitutability appears to be low, labour and loanable fund are substitutes. However, labour and physical capital as well as physical and loanable funds are complements in commercial banks. All the three inputs of labour, physical capital and loanable funds are substitutes for the government specialized banks.     

Cost metafrontier approach for measuring the Malmquist productivity index: An example of bank groups formed after the financial reform in Taiwan

This study attempts to provide a framework under the variable returns to scale hypothesis to account for the effect of the cost scale efficiency change in the decomposition of the cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (CMMPI). In addition, the meta‐cost efficiency and cost frontier gap between subordinate banks of financial holding companies (FHC) and independent banks are also examined. A total of 34 banks in Taiwan are empirically analysed from 1999 to 2012. The results indicate that the meta‐cost efficiency, meta‐technical efficiency and meta‐allocative efficiency scores of subordinate banks of FHC are better than those of independent banks. The banking industry in Taiwan is found to have an improvement in cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity. The subordinate banks of FHC are also found to exhibit positive CMMPI and decomposition components, but do not achieve a significant improvement except in the case of the technical gap ratio change. The empirical results recommend that Taiwanese banks place more policy focus on the issue of scale adjustment, which should be beneficial. Based on the CMMPI decomposed results, we can gain further understanding of the growth path to enhance operational performance.     

Retail‐bank efficiency: Nonstandard goals and environmental determinants

This paper analyzes technical and scale efficiency of Austrian savings and cooperative banks. Non‐profit objectives are also considered with respect to input–output choice, which contributes to adequate performance measurements for alternative banks. Efficiency score estimates obtained via Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) reveal considerable potential for improvement in terms of intermediation efficiency. Several environmental determinants prove significant, but the cumulative predictive content of exogenous factors is rather modest. Bank efficiency improves in both underdeveloped and prosperous markets, while increased rival size and distance appear to be detriments to efficiency. A concluding discussion of confounding factors reveals the managerial, stakeholder, and policy implications of the results.     

Bank ownership type and temporal evolution of long‐term bank funding in the period 2005–2017

This study uses a large panel dataset of Western European banks to examine the determinants of bank funding stability. Banks are divided into three categories by bank ownership type; the ownership types in this study are commercial banks, cooperative banks and savings banks. Three sources of stable bank funding are investigated: customer deposits, equity, and long‐term liabilities. Furthermore, the sum of these funding components is used as a proxy variable for a bank's total available stable funding (ASF). A special focus is on the temporal evolution of these funding types. The regression results show that commercial banks’ funding became much more stable in the period 2005–2017. However, that funding remains, on average, less stable than does cooperative and savings banks’ funding. In addition, funding stability has remained at the pre‐crisis level in cooperative and savings banks, despite a steep dip in cooperative banks’ ASF during the sovereign debt crisis. Furthermore, banks substantially decreased financing from long‐term liabilities after the financial crisis, replacing it with customer deposits and equity.     

国有商业银行与股份制商业银行生产效率的比较研究

本文采用基于投入的DEA方法 ,比较了加入WTO之前我国国有商业银行与股份制商业银行的生产效率。我们把存款当作产出 ,选取 1999年～ 2 0 0 1年十四家全国性商业银行为样本 ,计算出银行的技术效率 ,并将技术效率分解为纯技术效率和规模效率 ,确定银行的规模报酬变化。我们从银行的技术有效性、整体效率、技术无效性原因和规模报酬四个方面对国有和股份制商业银行进行了比较分析 ,研究国有商业银行与股份制商业银行之间的差距 ,并分析了原因。     

Competition,economies of scale,and diversity of firm sizes

This paper presents an empirical example in which small firms are able to compete by specializing, without monopolistic conduct, despite economies of scale. The viability of small commercial banks in Illinois is established both by casual observation and by a finding of constant returns to scale, not correcting for specialization. A second specification of the cost function, correcting for specialization, exhibits economies of scale, suggesting that specialization is the means by which small banks survive. Monopoly conduct is ruled out by a Rosse–Panzar test, rejecting the alternative hypothesis that monopoly power has allowed inefficient banks to survive.     

中印两国商业银行经营效率比较研究——基于群组效率指数的分析

文章以Camanho和Dyson(2006)发展的群组效率指数法为基础,结合双曲线距离函数,在规模报酬可变的假设条件下,对中印两国银行业的经营效率进行了比较研究。结果显示,印度银行业群组效率在研究期间内基本上优于中国银行业,主要原因在于印度银行业生产前沿的生产率和群组规模效率的一致性都优于中国银行业,但中国银行业群组技术效率的一致性却均高于印度银行业。因此,简单地说印度银行业的效率高于中国银行业是不准确的。     

Scale-dependent and risky returns to savings: Consequences for optimal capital taxation

I present a model of optimal capital taxation where agents with heterogeneous labor productivity randomly draw their rate of return to savings. Because of scale dependence, the distribution of rates of returns can depend on the amount saved. Uncertainty in returns to savings yields an insurance rationale for taxing capital on top of labor income. I first show that, because of scale dependence, agents making the same saving decision should access the same rate of return at the optimum. I then constrain the information set of the government and show that, as soon as return are uncertain, positive capital income taxation is needed at the optimum. The optimal linear tax on capital income trades off insurance with distortions to both savings and to the rate of return in a context of scale dependence. Eventually, I argue that scale dependence in and of itself is not sufficient to justify capital taxation on top of labor income taxes. These results are still valid when agents can optimize between a risk-free and a risky-asset that can both exhibit scale dependence.     

REGULATORY FORBEARANCE AND DEPOSITOR MARKET DISCIPLINE: EVIDENCE FROM SAVINGS BANKS IN KOREA

This paper investigates whether regulatory forbearance for savings banks in Korea affects the market discipline of depositors using data from 2000 to 2010, which are characterized by a series of exits of savings banks. We find that depositors' sensitivity to the savings banks' asset quality decreases when there is regulatory forbearance for failing savings banks. This forbearance effect is also observed in the behavior of the depositors of the neighboring savings banks in the same business area. These results suggest that regulatory forbearance may cause depositors to misjudge bank risks, increasing the expected costs of bank failure. (JEL G21, G28)     

COMPARATIVE EFFICIENCY BETWEEN COOPERATIVE,SAVINGS AND COMMERCIAL BANKS IN EUROPE USING THE FRONTIER APPROACH

We test competing hypotheses concerning the comparative behavior of shareholder‐owned commercial banks and stakeholder‐orientated cooperative and savings banks in European banking. One hypothesis is that the risk culture and business models of stakeholder and shareholder‐owned banks have become more alike and so cost efficiency has converged between bank ownership structures. The alternative hypothesis suggests that institutional differences do matter and lead, amongst other things, to variation in network effects and monitoring mechanisms producing differing behaviors and efficiency outcomes. By using a novel panel data set of 521 European banks during 1994–2010, we find: (i) mean inefficiency scores vary by ownership type and are lower for cooperative banks than for commercial and savings banks; (ii) there is a large variation in inefficiency scores among banks within each ownership type but the lower variance for cooperative banks indicates that they are the most homogeneous group; (iii) the inefficiency distribution of savings and commercial banks appear to arise from the same distribution, but this does not hold for cooperative banks. As such our findings are more consistent with the alternative hypothesis. Our first two findings buttress those studies that found significant differences between European banks with differing ownership structures, while our third finding on the significance of the cycle to the distribution of inefficiency is novel.     

资本要求、“多而不倒” 救助与系统性风险

本文从银行之间资产回报相关性的角度研究系统性风险，通过构建理论模型考察了存在“多而不倒”救助时资本要求对系统性风险的影响，并且以11个国家（地区）2006-2012年的相关数据为样本进行实证检验。研究结果表明，一定条件下“多而不倒”救助是监管者的最优选择，然而当存在这种“事后”最优政策时，资本要求的提高可能会通过影响银行“事前”投资决策的方式扩大银行之间的系统相关性，提高系统性风险隐患。这一效应在金融自由化程度较低的国家表现得更为显著。中国的资本监管改革应注意与金融市场化改革相协调。     

Non‐Scale Endogenous Growth with R&D and Human Capital

This paper examines the conditions under which increasing knowledge, encapsulated in ideas for new technology through R&D and embodied in human capital through education, sustains economic growth. A general model is developed where, consistent with recent literature, growth is non‐scale (not increasing in population size) and endogenous (generated by factors within R&D and education). Recent models feature the counterfactual assumption of constant returns to existing knowledge and restrict the substitutability of inputs within R&D and education. We find that non‐scale endogenous growth is possible under less stringent conditions. The findings reconcile sustained economic growth with evidence of diminishing marginal returns in education and R&D, which suggests an ambiguous role for R&D policy.     

Moving toward risk-based deposit insurance premiums in the European Union: the case of Spain

This article provides a scenario-based analysis of how the European Union proposal for a new funding model for deposit insurance systems (DISs) would affect the Spanish banking sector. We examine the risk profiles of commercial banks, savings banks and credit cooperatives over the period 2007 to 2011 and compare the contributions to the deposit insurance fund (DIF) under the current flat-rate regime with those that would have occurred under the new risk-sensitive system. We find that a risk-based scheme could provide an incentive for sound management by reducing the premiums for credit institutions with better risk profiles. We also conclude that the proposed reform may help to mitigate the moral hazard associated with larger credit institutions.     

Health spending,savings and fertility in a lifecycle‐dynastic model with longevity externalities

We investigate health spending, savings, fertility and policy implications in a lifecycle‐dynastic model with longevity externalities in annuity returns. We show that such externalities engender not only excessive health spending but also under‐saving and excessive fertility. Social security and health subsidization increase health spending and savings but reduce fertility from laissez‐faire levels. A publicly funded universal health system under labour‐income taxation raises fertility. Taxing health spending or using social security and public health together can obtain socially optimal health spending, savings, longevity and fertility. Numerical results based on US observations suggest substantial variations among these cases, especially in old‐age health spending.     

收益递增、运输成本与贸易模式

本文建立一个两国模型,研究存在运输成本和收益递增场合贸易的模式与利得分配,探讨成本递减作为贸易保护理由的条件,拓广Ethier(1982a)的分析。模型中制成品的生产可选用现代技术或传统技术,前者带来规模收益递增。基本结论是:模型参数及初始条件决定贸易均衡的类型以及贸易利益的得失。若收益递增越强、运输成本越低、制成品支出份额越高或相对经济规模越大则越容易形成专业化的生产与贸易格局,且专业化的格局类似于李嘉图模式(无运输成本、收益不变)的分析,即各国出口其具有比较优势的产品;出口收益递增产品的一方总是从贸易中获利,另一方可能获利也可能受损。建议政府大力扶持收益递增产业,积极推动工艺创新。     

Evolution of banking efficiency within an unstable macroeconomic environment: the case of Turkish commercial banks

This paper analyses the efficiency performance of the Turkish banking sector between 1988 and 1999, a period characterized by increasing macroeconomic instability. The technical and scale efficiencies of Turkish commercial banks are measured with the use of nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis. The empirical results suggest that over the sample period both pure technical and scale efficiency measures show a great variation and the sector did not achieve sustained efficiency gains. It is also reported that the sector suffers mainly from scale inefficiency and scale inefficiency, in turn, is due to decreasing returns to scale. There are also reported differences in the efficiency performance of commercial banks with different ownership status. In addition, the relationships between profitability, asset quality, size and the two definitions of efficiency are considered. Efficient banks are more profitable, and pure technical efficiency and scale inefficiency are positively related to size. The trend in the performance levels over the period suggests that macroeconomic conditions had a profound influence on the efficiency measures.     

我国商业银行效率结构研究

本文采用随机前沿法(SFA)测算了1990—2003年我国商业银行的X-利润效率、规模效率、范围效率及其动态变化,然后分析了宏观因素、产权制度与市场结构对效率水平的影响程度和影响机制。实证检验发现,GDP增长率、固定资产投资增长率和货币供应量(M2)的增长率对X-利润效率水平产生正影响;CPI和以全部国有及规模以上非国有工业企业的销售利润率衡量的企业整体效益状况对X-利润效率水平产生了负影响;所有宏观变量中,固定资产投资增长率的影响最大。在面临相同的宏观经济环境下,国有商业银行和股份制商业银行的X-利润效率水平存在结构性差别,且依次递增;两类商业银行均存在一定程度的规模效率,国有商业银行在大多数年份里的规模效率好于股份制银行,从时间趋势来说,两类商业银行由于规模的扩大,规模经济效应正在逐步减弱且差距也在逐步缩小;国有银行几乎不存在范围效率,股份制银行存在一定程度的范围效率,但从时间趋势来看,范围效率逐步减弱。产权制度是造成这种差异的关键原因,市场竞争程度对商业银行效率也产生了非常重要的影响;且两者对商业银行效率的影响是一种互补关系而不是替代关系。最后提出了相应的对策和建议。     

Scale and efficiency measurement using a semiparametric stochastic frontier model: evidence from the U.S. commercial banks

In this paper, we use the local maximum likelihood (LML) method proposed by Kumbhakar et al. (J Econom, 2007) to estimate stochastic cost frontier models for a sample of 3,691 U.S. commercial banks. This method relaxes several deficiencies in the econometric estimation of frontier functions. In particular, we relax the assumption that all banks share the same production technology and provide bank-specific measures of returns to scale and cost inefficiency. The LML method is applied to estimate the cost frontiers in which a truncated normal distribution is used to model technical inefficiency. This formulation allows the cost frontier, inefficiency effects and heteroskedasticity in both noise and inefficiency components to be quite flexible.      

POLITICS AND LENGTH OF TIME TO BANK FAILURE: 1986–1990

This paper extends research on the savings and loan (S&L) industry to the banking industry in order to determine whether political influence affects the length of time from initial undercapitalization until ultimate bank failure. Results suggest that undercapitalized banks with representation on the House banking committee were allowed to remain open longer than were other undercapitalized banks. These results provide evidence that membership on relevant House committees matters.